Choice within mandated curriculum
“It is important to have a core set of beliefs or a core philosophical perspective that includes ideas about both theory and practice. Such a philosophical perspective is the foundation upon which a personal pedagogy is built” (p. 2)
“”The approach [literature circles] is based on the belief that students must have some choice over what they read and how they read it. In literature circles, each small group of students reads a different book, and often all of the books are thematically linked” (p. 3)
from Alsup, Janet & Bush, Jonathan. (2003) “But will it work real students?” Scenarios for teaching secondary English language arts. Urbana, IL: NCTE.
In reading chapter one of Alsup and Bush’s book, the two quotes above stuck me as related to some of the issues I’ve been grappling with this past week as we have begun our practicum experiences. Our discussions and readings in the past two semesters have, thus far, have made me convinced that one way to encourage students’ attention is to offer some choice in reading material and ways of communicating, and quite determined to incorporate these ideas into my future classroom. Naturally, this literary “pro-choice” viewpoint makes me a bit resistance to the dictated curriculum that seems to be the trend in so many of our local school systems. Couldn’t I be trusted to develop a rich, varied, and interesting curriculum for my Language Arts class?
So I was surprised to discover that I actually liked the activities filling the pages of the new curriculum being implemented at my practicum site. The lessons incorporate group work, interpretation, reasoning, critical thinking, and performance. On the days the students worked through the exercises they were lively, interested, and eager to share their opinions. There were fewer sleepy heads to nudge awake and fewer notes to confiscate. Hey, this isn’t so bad, I thought.
I was surprised to hear the grumbling taking place among a few of the teachers. And, yes, I agree that I’d rather have more freedom, but I have to argue that even within the guidelines of the workbook, a teacher can implement some extras. First of all, teacher personality and creativity affect how much students gain or miss. Even as I listened to my mentor teacher I was thinking that an extra explanation could be added in this place for this class, or adapted slightly for the next class. Other poems could be added or used as homework, or even read for fun in the last few minutes of class. The opening activity that seems so rigid could be modified so that it adds an extra layer of information or contrast. She seemed to do this naturally as the classes changed and the day progressed. Second, a teacher’s attitude toward the curriculum colors the lesson. When other pre-service teachers have told me that they overhead instructors tell students that they “had to hurry to get through this” (implying that something more fun or interesting might come later), I shudder at the message they are sending. Working within boundaries is a fact of life and we teachers should strive to model that to our charges.
October 31st, 2006 at 10:48 am
Dear Cynthia
By reading your comment I think your are a 10 grade student.I really like how you use good word choose.You talked about Therey what is that.
November 7th, 2006 at 6:04 pm
Cynthia-
I enjoyed hearing about your experience working with mandated curriculum. Like you, I tend to be very ‘pro-choice’ when it comes to curriculum because, as you point out, when we are afforded choice we are generally more motivated. The fact that a ‘pro-choice’ person, like you, finds satisfaction teaching without choice gives me hope. Certainly, the trend seems to be towards micromanaging teachers through mandated curriculum. I tend to think of myself as someone who would quickly become bored ‘delivering’ preformatted lessons that have been cooked up far from an actual classroom. I think that in the end it simply comes down to the quality of material we are forced to teach. Can the curriculum sustain our interest over the course of years? My suspicion is that it cannot because the interests and concerns of commercial ‘curriculum developers’ are far from the dark and eternal springs of poetic imagination. Only time will tell.